Time for the hard graft....

I won't bore you or sicken you too much with the details of a burn injury. Let me just tell you this; it really hurts. You feel sick, dehydrated and very, very tired. You look terrible, covered in weeping scabs that have to be cleaned off. You're taught to leave scabs in order for your skin to recover but with burns, they only harbour infection. Rigorous care is required; cleaning and massaging several times a day. Between the scabs there is the redness, a vivid, angry red where your skin has been scorched.

My face was covered in scabs which I had to clean 3 times a day. It took up to 45 mins to do. There was a massive scab on my lip and above my lip where I had a third degree burn and a really horrible one on my forehead. I took a rolling combination of drugs, Oxycodone, Paracentamol and Ibruprofen.

My ear was horrendously painful and wasn’t showing much improvement. The scab on my lip was massive and what was worrying was I had no feeling in that area, where the nerves had been burnt. My face was very puffy. I couldn’t wash my hair and some of it had burnt off and some had been shaved so I just tied in back out the way.

By this time I really should have been making more progress but my arm was still an open wound on the shoulder and under the arm. The surgeon said I would need skin grafts this week. It would be painful as the donor site has lots of exposed nerves in it and there was a chance that it wouldn’t take. I asked them not to tell me lots of things but instead just what I needed to know, I couldn’t bear to hear what they were going to do to me and how it was going to work.

They called me the next morning!!!

Now, having a skin graft is scary. The donor site does really hurt.

BUT!

I had the grafts about 2 months ago and they already look like normal skin. Yes they are red and yes they are not as aesthetically pleasing as I would like......but they have taken beautifully. Eventually (the 2 year point!) I should have very little scarring.

If you are having skin grafts you must prepare yourself for some pain after the operation but focus on how wonderful it is that you have been repaired with your own skin. After a week I had my bandages off, huge progress compared to my own bodies slow, three week attempt to heal.